Merry Making...

So I've been off the radar for the past month, busy making merry with friends and family, trying to avoid to-do lists and cramming in as much Christmastime little-kid fun as possible. Sharing and creating traditions with my kids, unplugging a bit and nesting a lot, December really is the month I look forward to most each year.

This year, while lots of sadness and struggle swirled around the not-so-distant outside world, my kids offered me a brilliant, glaring reminder of the goodness that this season embodies. Their genuine joy, enthusiasm and utter faith in something that so many doubt reminded me of all the goodness there still is to believe in and celebrate. 

Christmas Eve, 1998, Adare, Ireland. The night we got engaged. 

(And drank a lot of champagne, if you hadn't noticed)

Flash forward thirteen years, a house, and two kids later...

working hard on letters to Santa Claus

I think this Santa might be the real deal. 

 

 watching a video message from Santa

celebrating with cousins

 and a "Domenick the Donkey" dance party

 and Grandpa

 feasting with family

preparing reindeer treats

 a visit from St. Nick on a finally silent night

 and P.J., our elf, hiding in my Charlie Brown tree, a concession for losing the artificial tree battle

Christmas morning love

Whatever you believe, whatever you celebrate, I hope you found time this month for a little merry-making with the ones you love and the things that make you happiest.

Wishing you a new year  filled with peace, joy and love.

Erin

A Dream House

Barbie had one. 

Barbie's Dream House, circa 1979, via Google

Mr. Blandings built one.

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, 1948

Cary Grant and Myrna Loy in
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House,
both images, via Google

And I am forever falling in love with other people's houses.


From the breathtaking,

image via Pinterest

to the classic beauty on a tree-lined lot,

from Crush Cul de Sac via Pinterest

to the humble charmer where I can imagine sitting by the fire

Google.com, via Pinterest

in a cozy kitchen like this, 

fortheloveofahouse.blogspot.com

I am a daydreamer and a voyeur when it comes to houses.


I have several favorites in and around my neighborhood.

  

They are usually nothing fancy or very large, but typically pretty classic with an older soul and lots of charm. Nothing really like my own home or even the home I grew up in, both boxy, post-war homes nestled among their look-a-like counterparts on neat and tidy  suburban plots.

It always surprises me that I ended up living in the opposite of what I always daydreamed (and still do) about, but maybe the reality is better than the dream. As unremarkable as our house appeared from the outside when we first looked at it, the inside told a different story.


What was it that sold us? Practicality, perhaps, a blank canvas and good bones, for sure, but the ability to see our future, absolutely.  By the time we returned to our car that day, I could see where the Christmas tree would go.  We were sold and a different kind of daydreaming began.  

My house and home, like its residents, will always be evolving.  I'm guessing that the homes I  admire the most may have looked something like mine at one point.   With time and patience she will be a charmer, but the life that happens inside is better than any daydream I could imagine. 


What makes your house or apartment a home?

Erin